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Free Weekly Episode - Juventus Win Controversial Derby d’Italia, Lazio Topple Roma, Milan Crisis Returns, Conte’s Spurs Meltdown & Much More (Ep. 307)
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From Juventus winning over Inter after refereeing controversy, Mattia Zaccagni Lazio's hero in ill-tempered Rome derby where Roger Ibañez costs Roma game, historic Zlatan Ibrahimovic as AC Milan crash to Udinese, Victor Osimhen breaks Samuel Eto'o's record as Napoli thrash Torino as well as preview of Italy against England in Euro 2024 qualifiers and much, much more as Nima and Carlo break down an absolutely jampacked weekend of Italian football.
Every Monday episode of The Italian Football Podcast is free for all.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to the Italian football podcast.
00:00:06
Speaker
Hello, everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Italian football podcast. I'm Carla Garganese here, as always, with Nima Tovale. Today should be a really, really interesting podcast because there is so much to talk about on today's show.
Serie A Weekend Matches: Controversies and Highlights
00:00:23
Speaker
So many huge games at the weekend in the final weekend before the international break for Euro 2020 for qualifiers.
00:00:33
Speaker
that start this week, Italy playing against England, so we're going to be previewing
00:00:37
Speaker
Italy's match against England and then against Malta, the Italy squad that's been called up by Roberto Mancini. But before all that, of course, we will talk about the Serie A weekend matches, of course, Interversus Juventus in the Derby d'Italia, a very controversial handball or a few handball incidents that led to Juventus' winner.
Italy vs England: Squad Analysis and Expectations
00:01:00
Speaker
We've got the Rome Derby controversy in that as well.
00:01:06
Speaker
We have also Napoli winning yet again thrashing Torino 4-0. They are romping to the Scudetto. We have Milan losing again. Their crisis is back. The revival is over.
00:01:20
Speaker
And we also have Antonio Conte going on an absolute meltdown, an epic meltdown, one of his most epic, maybe his most epic meltdowns after Tottenham's match against Southampton. And then, as I said, Italy versus England this Thursday, so we're going to preview that game, Italy going into that match in very, very bad shape.
00:01:42
Speaker
So yeah, lots to talk about.
Podcast Information and Audience Engagement
00:01:45
Speaker
As always, this is our Monday episode. So for all our first time listeners, this is our free weekly episode, which we do every Monday, which reviews the weekend serie action and all the biggest talking points in Italian football. And if you want to support the Italian football podcast and receive all of our content throughout the week, which includes a weekly Q&A episode, which we do every Tuesday,
00:02:06
Speaker
where we answer all the questions sent in from our Patreons. Plus, we do a weekly Thursday midweek review show, plus interviews, post-match reaction, and plenty more. Then go to patreon.com slash T-I-F-P, and you can become a subscriber for just $2.99 a month, plus VAT. And for those of you that are listening on Spotify, iTunes, and Apple Podcasts, we'd really, really appreciate if you leave us a five-star rating. Give us a follow. Give us a subscribe.
Inter vs Juventus: Detailed Handball Controversy Analysis
00:02:33
Speaker
This really helps us to grow.
00:02:36
Speaker
Okay, lots to talk about then, so let's get into it. Interversus Juventus, to start with, the Sunday evening game. Never any love lost between these two teams. Two biggest rivals in Italian football and two of the biggest rivals in all of football anywhere. Juventus win the game at San Siro, 1-0.
00:02:58
Speaker
but only after, and this is where we have to start, only after a goal scored by Philip Kostich in which there were three potential handballs, and we're going to discuss all of them individually, in the build-up to the goal, the first against Rabio,
00:03:20
Speaker
And then after that, two potential handballs by Wlawicz all in the build up to the goal. The goal was given live in play and then we went to the VAR. We were waiting for an absolute age up to almost five minutes. It was then decided by the VAR that the goal should stand. Of course, there's been a lot of debate.
00:03:42
Speaker
about this after the game. Were they handballs? Were they deliberate? Were they accidental? There's lots to delve into on this. So what we're going to do is we're going to go through each episode one by one and then come to an overall conclusion on was it the right decision or was it the wrong decision. So let's start off with Rabio to start with. So as I said, this was kind of on the halfway line.
00:04:09
Speaker
uh just finding my notes uh and um yes the ball so the ball comes down he tries to chest it um you tell me you tell me your take on this on the ravio uh incident first
00:04:25
Speaker
I think he jumps up to take it, but he mistimes his jump, doesn't he? And it bounces, it looks like he's, you know, he wants to head it, but he doesn't head it and it kind of slides off his arm. Yeah, head or chest. Yeah, head or chest. Whatever he's trying to do, it's not really clear what he's trying to do. But he fails with both his chest and his head and it kind of
00:04:47
Speaker
It looks like it guides the ball, it touches it below the shoulder, and then it bounces off to Vlawic, who's got his arm towards his body. So to me, the Vlawic first one is not, I don't even think we need to discuss it, because it's, that's not a hard one. Well, come on to Vlawic, though. Let's come on to Vlawic. No, I mean, to me, it's like, that's it, because they're kind of tired. I mean, that situation, that first situation, yes, it goes on Vlawic's arm, but it's nothing to talk about, because there's no deliberate, his arm is by his body. So that's not, we're not even going to talk about that.
00:05:17
Speaker
But it's the second blow of each one of the first, and this Rabio thing, which I think are...
00:05:25
Speaker
It's starting to get ridiculous now, because this notion of, well, did it touch his arm? Is it part of his arm? Well, the iFab has explained clearly what part of the hand is. It's anything below the shoulder. Anything below the shoulder is hand, for the purposes of handball offense.
00:05:48
Speaker
And it's the second week in a row with Rabbeor that we've seen this, and the issue comes down to this notion of whether or not it was conclusive or not. Well, even if you were to give the benefit of the doubt to it not being conclusive, a discussion which I find
00:06:07
Speaker
incredibly pathetic, because now all of a sudden, whether or not everyone has turned into Detective Grissom from Las Vegas PD on CSI now, we're waiting for the lab results to see if it touched the arm or not, it's ridiculous. So it is conclusive. It bounces off his arm, but then what are we waiting for? And it's silly. So, okay, even if you were to say that that part of it is not
00:06:36
Speaker
it didn't touch his arm, or it, you know, I just find it ridiculous, to be honest, this thing. Even if we were to give the greatest benefit of the doubt and say, no, it doesn't touch his arm, it's not deliberate. Okay, but the Vlawic second one is not even up for debate. Well, we're coming to Vlawic. I'll give my view on Ravio first. Initially, when I saw it with the first
00:07:00
Speaker
camera angle that came out at the time that they showed on the TV that was all over social media at the time of the the incident I thought it hit the arm from the angle that was shown immediately it looked like it definitely hit his arm the one what they show it where it's quite close it's quite a close-up and it looked definite definite
00:07:19
Speaker
handball. That's without that's just talking about whether it hit and that's without going into the whole intentional non intentional, you know, which is another argument. Then after the game, right, release two videos that were also on Domenico sportiva as well. These are the only videos that exist that I've seen that shows the incident clearly and from the correct distance and they showed one from a front angle and a backing back angle.
00:07:47
Speaker
that that video appears to show that it didn't hit Rabio's hand it doesn't hit sorry it didn't hit his arm that that that angle and that's been you know that's been on this morning it was football italia did a story on it um and you know
00:08:04
Speaker
I'm not going to say it's 100% conclusive, that video, but it appears to show that there isn't, you know, their analysis of it, right, the forgotten his name, Max Akani is the Dominican Sportiva Moviolista, they call it, which is like the guys that they do. That's the best word ever. What do you call it? How do you just how do you translate that kind of like the slow motion?
00:08:25
Speaker
Yeah. Slow motion replays. They do this on Italian TV where they go back and forth. They go back and everything. And his analysis of that was that that video didn't show it hitting his arm, that there was light. I'm not sure if there was that you could see clearly there was light, but the trajectory of the ball definitely doesn't move. But, you know, it appears from that video that it didn't touch his arm.
00:08:53
Speaker
And,
Juventus vs Inter: Performance and Tactical Evaluation
00:08:54
Speaker
I mean, I don't know whether the VAR, and this is another debate, and this is what wound me up about last time, I don't know whether the VAR had that, this camera angle. How can they not have that? This camera angle came out. How can they not have that image? Well, I don't know if they did. I mean, Ry had it at the end of the game. Ry had it at the end of the game, but I don't know whether the VAR had it. But, I mean, even if they did or didn't have it, I would just say that having the, you know, with the decision, with the original decision from the referee on the field being that, you know,
00:09:23
Speaker
They didn't give the handball that then when they did check it They couldn't quite possibly come to the conclusion for on that this I'm talking to purely on the ravio and not the vojovic one here They couldn't come to the conclusion that that this was a this was a definite handball so for that reason, you know Sakani says and Luca Morelli said, you know, it was the correct call for VAR not to give a handball and
00:09:44
Speaker
Against Rabye and and you know, I think from what we're seeing from the videos that we've seen I think that's the correct decision on Rabye Blauwitsch will come to will come to rap for Blauwitsch because I think that is there's more Debate there and this I think you know from the videos that are shown it's not it's there's no evidence clear evidence that it's a handball and
00:10:11
Speaker
But yeah, but as for Vlovich, I think that the initial Vlovich handball straight after the Rabbi, I think that's pretty clear cut.
00:10:21
Speaker
You know, it hits him on the arm. There's no doubt that it hits him on the arm, but it's not. It's not a handball. It's not a handball. There's no intention whatsoever. He has no time to react. The ball lands and he's got his arm right by his body. He can't do anything. I mean, that's not I don't even we don't even need to discuss that because it's just it's not. Yeah, he's got his arm by his body. There's nothing to talk about. That's not a handball. The second handball, then I'll ask you about this. So the second handball. So after Rabio,
00:10:49
Speaker
mis-controls it. It hits Blauwitsch unintentionally on the hand. Comes back to Rabio. Rabio then
00:10:56
Speaker
flicks it back to Vlawovic. Vlawovic goes to chest the ball, right, he chests it and it hits him on the bicep, the chest and the bicep simultaneously, it hits him. No, it bounces, you can see his muscle, like his bicep muscle moves, like it's not even... Yeah, it hits simultaneously on his... He guides the ball with his bicep, which is part of the arm, as per the definition of an ifab, which is part of the hand.
00:11:25
Speaker
And that, you know, he's making his body bigger as well. When his arm is outside, he's steering the ball. That is just, it's just tick, tick, tick. That's a deliberate handball. I mean, that is just, that's a disgrace. And the fact that they can't even pretend that they didn't have the images for that, because I don't even think they were looking at that, to be honest. I don't even think they were looking at that situation. They were looking at the first two.
00:11:52
Speaker
day and what Kifi says and what Kifi says, like what's been said, reported in the in Italian media, is that he tells Kifi, the referee, all right, he tells Barilla that it's two possible handball situations. But that's not the one they're referring to. They're referring to the first two ones. They're not looking at this. And that is the disgrace, because you don't need a special angle that they can they can enlarge in.
00:12:19
Speaker
I saw some, I can't remember who it was on Italian TV, talking absolute nonsense, saying, well, the VAR can't, when they have the video they have in front of them, they can't enlarge the images or the images on the screen, which is nonsense. We've seen them do it time and time again.
00:12:33
Speaker
So you can do it. They have these images. Ravanelli, the Juventus legend, was on sport media. He had all these guys on. They all said, no, no, here, it's not even this is a handball offense. He could have blown his whistle. He should have blown his whistle. He moves and controls the ball. Let me just stop you there. Let me read out what the actual IFAB rules are on handballs, just so everybody's clear.
00:13:01
Speaker
Three points. Number one, no goals can be scored with the arm or hand even if it's accidental, right? Number two, point two, deliberate hand balls are and have always been an offence. So that's the two points. So you can't score with your hand even if it's accidental, right?
00:13:20
Speaker
but if you deliver if you deliberately handle the ball anywhere on the pitch it's an offense it's an infringement right and then point three which is probably the key point is incidental or accidental contact is only a friend and offense if it's done by the player.
00:13:40
Speaker
who scores the goal. In other words, you can't score with your hands, you can't control the ball with your hand and then score, but you can have incidental contact with your hand and assist the goal, start a counter-attack, etc, that ends up leading to a goal. As long as it's not deliberate. If an attacking player's accidental handball immediately precedes another player's scoring, the goal will be awarded. That is from 2021. However, a player will still be generalised
00:14:08
Speaker
However, a player will still be penalised if he commits an accidental handball immediately before scoring a cell. So basically, the question is this with Vlawovic's second handball. Was this handball incidental or was it deliberate? That's the question. If it's deliberate, then
00:14:28
Speaker
the referee should have blown or the VAR should have overturned this and disallowed it. If it was accidental, then it should be allowed. Now, just to play devil's advocate here, because I don't think it's as clear cut as you think it is, but I would probably lean towards more towards it being a handball.
00:14:56
Speaker
is he goes to you know he's not deliberately trying to handle the ball he's trying to chest the ball but it it hits his arm as as he's trying to chest it he didn't go lean with his arm. Which means that there is a deliberate action of his body towards the ball and his arm is outside of his body making it unnaturally bigger. I disagree with the second part of that. When people talk about deliberate what what do they think they do that
00:15:17
Speaker
this definition of what you think he sat there in Belgrade and cahooted with his uncle said, Oh, you know what? On Sunday with on in Milan, I'm going to plan it. I mean, this is ridiculous. This notion of deliberate becoming some sort of mastermind. Yeah, but when you try and test the ball, sometimes you do misjudge it and it hits your hand, hits your hand sometimes. You know, that that happens. That doesn't mean you are responsible for your body. You are responsible for your body. You are responsible for your arm.
00:15:44
Speaker
You're responsible for your arm, but when you chest the ball, you naturally have your arms in a certain position to chest the ball. You don't chest your ball with your arms straight down. There is deliberate movement of his arm towards the ball. It is not an accident. The non-deliberate movement is when the ball before, in the seconds before that, when the ball lands on his hand, he didn't do any movement towards the ball whatsoever.
00:16:06
Speaker
He is trying to control the ball with his body. He misjudges it, meaning there is intention already there. The fact that his body, that his arm, and his arm is sticking outside. And we can clearly see when the ball touches his biceps. Like it's that. I'm torn.
00:16:21
Speaker
Unbelievable. I'm a little bit torn. I think there is some subjectivity to it because I think that he's gone to chest the ball, right? As he's chest the ball, yes, he's moved his body, which naturally means he's moved his arms because his arms are part of his body. He hasn't moved his arm towards the ball. He's moved his body towards the ball because he's trying to chest it. And it's hit his chest and his arm at the same time. He missed his control in that situation. Yeah, he's miscontrolled this. He's miscontrolled it. But is that an accidental move?
00:16:51
Speaker
It's a deliberate movement of his body. No, it's not because it's a deliberate movement of his body and his arms are part of his body. Like this is the thing that is just astonishing to me. I don't even think they looked at it. They didn't even look at it. I agree with you there. I agree with you there. I think they didn't look at it. I think they saw that there was a handball for Rabiyyah, a potential handball for Rabiyyah.
00:17:12
Speaker
then they've seen another potential handball for Vlovich and they just kind of automatically probably thought well there can't be another handball surely after that so they've just focused and honed in on these first two and they've just I think they probably just missed the third one. I mean I'm assuming we don't know that for sure but you know what even on the tv even on the tv they were saying they were saying um
00:17:33
Speaker
that, you know, they were only talking about two handball incidents, even the commentators where I was listening to it on BT Sport. They didn't even acknowledge the third one. Then after the games, it actually there was a third one that there was a third handball potentially, you know, so they took four minutes. They didn't even look at this. I mean, five minutes.
00:17:50
Speaker
Yeah, this is what I mean. It's a disgrace. That is an absolute scandal. That is a scandal. The ball literally touches it. Yeah, if they didn't say it, that is an absolute scandal. Which is even what I'm hoping for their sake, they didn't see it. Because if they saw it and don't give it,
00:18:07
Speaker
Then we're in really, really big trouble here because there is a deliberate movement of his body towards the ball.
Inter's Challenges: Squad Issues and Future Predictions
00:18:15
Speaker
He mis-controls his body. His bicep hits it, which is part of the hand as per the definition of Aifa. His arm is sticking out. I mean, what are we doing here?
00:18:25
Speaker
I think I think is I think is a little bit more subjective, even if I generally I would lean towards towards what your your your view of it, even though I do think there is some situation because having played the game, you know, that's happened loads. When I played, I've tried to chest the ball and it's just and it's just hit my you know, you put your arms you are responsible for your body. That's what everyone is responsible for their bodies. You're responsible for your foot. You're responsible for your arm. You're responsible for your head. If there is a deliberate action of your body and you miss control your body and I
00:18:53
Speaker
What I will say, Nimr, is this. My opinion is the handball rule is stupid, whatever your interpretation on any of these incidences. I've always said, if an attacking player handles the ball in the lead up to a goal, the goal should be disallowed, whether it's accidentally or deliberately. Like it was before. I think it's a ridiculous rule because, I mean, tell me, this is why I can't understand Nimr, right?
00:19:14
Speaker
regardless of we disagree a little bit over the absolutism of that interpretation. If goals can be disallowed for accidental fouls in the lead up to a goal, why should have one being different? It doesn't make any sense. It makes no sense. It was good. It was working. There was no need to tinker with this.
00:19:36
Speaker
Before 2021, it was working. Everyone knew that it was crystal clear. A player was allowed to, like when he's trying to go to tackle to keep his balance and the ball hit his arm, then that's not a foul because he's trying to keep his balance. You know which one I mean, like when they're sliding down in the penalty area and you try to maintain your balance by putting your hand behind your back, right?
00:20:01
Speaker
That was considered okay. But everything else, you're not allowed to do it. You're simply not allowed to do it. It's not allowed. It's not part of the game. It goes against the spirit of the game. And it was fine. It's just another example of what I've been crying about for the last 10 years, about more than 10 years, is that every single rule change and every single change, which sometimes they try and call evolution, but it's all deliberate. It's to benefit the attackers, to make there be more goals, to be more chaos, because this is what neutrals love. They want
00:20:29
Speaker
they want more you know they want more goals and they want more chaos and you know i think it's i think it's a joke that a goal you know whatever your end again i insist you know i disagree with you a little bit about about that about you know about it being subjective or object or you know but
00:20:48
Speaker
is ridiculous to me that a goal can be allowed for a handball in the instant. Listen, the thing with that, but to me, the thing that gets me is that being clumsy and mis-controlling your body when there is a deliberate movement of your body is not an excuse because the deliberate part is already there. You move towards the ball. You being clumsy is not a mitigating factor here.
00:21:09
Speaker
that the deliberate action has already been done. You missing the ball and hitting it with your hand. I mean, if we're going to read it like that, then nothing is a handball unless we do a Kevin Strieger. Yeah, because it's whether your hands in a non-natural position. Yeah. Or who's the world champion of grabbing? He's the only player I've ever seen who grabs the ball with both 10 fingers on the ball in the middle of the penalty. He does it time and time again. Bologna, Somaro.
00:21:34
Speaker
That's his specialty, that's his superpower, him and Stryker Larsen. But it's like, it is what it is. But this notion is, there is a deliberate movement. He missed it. But there's also the idea, there's also about it being, you know, is it in a natural position? That's the key thing. And you know, for me, it wasn't a natural position.
00:21:54
Speaker
No, I don't think it was. I disagree with that. Listen, we've given both sides. We've given both sides. People can make their own opinions. But let's move on to the match. Let's move on to the match itself. Let's start with Juventus performance first, and then we'll move on to Insev. I'm sure you've got plenty to say on that as well. We'll start off with Juventus. I thought, I'll give you my opinion, I thought as the away side,
00:22:21
Speaker
they were very comfortable throughout. Everybody knows my opinion. It's not my kind of football. Playing 30% possession, I don't like to see it. But if we look at the substance of this game, the chances created
00:22:36
Speaker
you know, incident create a single clear chance in the whole game.
Juventus's Top Four Prospects and Challenges
00:22:39
Speaker
The nearest they had. Yeah, the nearest they had to a clear chance was that was that incident. But I wouldn't have said that I wouldn't say that's clear cut. You know, at most, it's a good chance. And they never really looked like creating
00:22:51
Speaker
much much at all. The entire game, Juventus were never really flustered. They were the team really when Juventus attacked that looked the more dangerous. They didn't create many clear-cut chances their own apart from when they scored but they wasted a lot of openings where they should have created clear chances to double their lead but they messed up the final pass or
00:23:13
Speaker
or you know so I thought that they were they were comfortable the defense was solid I thought uh Bremer and Danilo were really excellent again both were in really good form I thought Gatti was was
00:23:25
Speaker
surprisingly very good as he was against Freiberg as well. He showed good character, he put his body on the line. The midfield was solid defensively. I think Locatelli has been much better recently in that sense. But we have to single out Kostich. He's been a fantastic signing. 11 assists this season. He's now got three goals in Serie A. His output and his numbers speak for himself and so does his record against Inse. He scored the winner here and
00:23:53
Speaker
he assisted both goals in the first game. So, yeah, I think it was a good performance from Juventus. They put in the... It was a very good performance by Juve. They were solid. Allegri was an Allegri tactical masterclass. Every player on that pitch knew exactly what they were doing.
00:24:15
Speaker
They were so well organized, so well balanced, they knew exactly when to do what and why and how. They knew that Inter would struggle down the right-hand side, and if you look at the build-up before the goal as well, and we're going to get to Inter as well, them being all over the place defensively.
00:24:37
Speaker
That was a scammy. That wasn't just discard the handball and all that. That was an actual move. There was thought behind that. They'd worked on that move. And this is what Allegri does when he delivers. He doesn't turn up to big games not prepared. He always does. It's always his career. Even if the results have been crap, big games away in the home these past few 18 months,
00:25:00
Speaker
Juventus come with a match plan, they don't turn up unprepared. And this time it all came together. But to be honest, this was not a draw, in my opinion, would have been the most, based on how things looked, was the most, because Uwe didn't exactly create a lot either. But overall, it was a stable performance, they got the goal, and they closed up shop.
00:25:22
Speaker
But moving forward, although Juventus didn't create anything, they did feel more dangerous. That game could have gone on for four weeks and I think they would still not score a goal. That's how it felt watching it. And I know the goal obviously conditioned the rest of the game in the sense that Juventus were able to defend and
00:25:47
Speaker
hit on the counter. No, he decides the complexity completely changes the projection of the game after that, because if it's a goalless, then Juventus have to play differently, they have to approach it differently. So there's no going getting away from that. But having said that, we can't deny that Juve were very, very comfortable and solid defensively. Very, very comfortable. They were. And I think that, you know, because people always have a go at me, you know, not giving Allegri credit when he deserves credit, you know, I will say that in the last month or so,
00:26:17
Speaker
even though, and I will repeat, this is not my kind of football. I don't like seeing this kind of football with 30% possession. It's horrible. But there is more substance from Juventus in the last month or two that we didn't see in the previous 18 months in the sense that you watch Juventus play and even though they're not having much possession, they are creating more chances in the opposition. They look comfortable when defending. They don't look like conceding chances when they go forward.
00:26:44
Speaker
They don't necessarily, they still don't really create much, but they look more dangerous on the whole, on the total of the game. If you sum up the whole game, they look more dangerous than the opposition. That is happening now quite regularly with the Juventus games in the last couple of months, even in the Roma game that Juventus lost. For me, they were the better team in that game. They were the more dangerous team. They created the more chances. They looked more dangerous in that game.
00:27:10
Speaker
but they lost it. I thought they were lucky to lose that game and I don't think they played amazingly well in that game. They create loads of chances, but we're seeing more and more of that, more substance from Juventus in the last two months. Whereas that wasn't the case, I think, certainly in the first 18 months of Leggo, even when they went on that long winning run of when they won all those 1-0 wins.
00:27:29
Speaker
But they got lucky in a lot of those games, like the cremenace game, where they didn't have a shot, shot the whole game. The first minute free kick from a goalkeeping error. That was how they were winning those games. Whereas now, you can definitely see that
00:27:43
Speaker
it's there's definitely more of a there's more method to the to the to the madness if it with you know describe it like that there's more method to it was before it was all disjointed and it was bad to watch but it was also disjointed that now you can see the method and there's more substance so i have to give allegory credit to that they finally won a big game away from home under allegory their record again
00:28:08
Speaker
their record against big teams has been horrendous as we've spoken about a lot on this pod and you know they have a lot of big games still coming
Inter vs Juventus: Tactical Deep Dive
00:28:16
Speaker
up. Lazio away they've got Napoli coming up you know so top four I think there's still a lot to do to be honest with the top four there's still seven points off the top four but
00:28:26
Speaker
And I think they probably still realistically need those 15 points back if they're going to finish in the top four. But, you know, who knows Milan play Napoli next. So, you know, they could be even closer to Milan. They probably will be closer to Milan after that next game. Obviously Roma are still six points. Roma are still six points ahead still, so it's not just Milan.
00:28:47
Speaker
Yeah, it was good. The other point I wanted to make is Juventus look fresher than Inter. We're going to come to Inter, and that's something I want to make on that. But they look fresher than Inter, despite having two days less rest. Well, they spent less energy against Freiburg than Inter did against Porto. Yeah, for sure. That's true. That's true. But still, it's still two days extra rest.
00:29:12
Speaker
I think this is where, when I said this last week, you have to give credit to Allegri that this is one thing that he is a master at, and I will always say this, managing the squad and the energy levels. He will always do that. He will get his teams at this point of the season fresher than a lot of teams, certainly than Inter were in this game.
00:29:32
Speaker
And the 90s were completely and utterly spent against after Porto. Yeah, they were completely dead. There was nothing there. There was no energy. There was absolutely nothing there. And, you know, we saw without Scringa, without Bastani, you know, it was all I if you remember, I think I even said last week, I think you were win that game because I felt you were in a better position generally energy wise and and also because the inter were drained.
00:30:01
Speaker
But it's no excuse. It's no excuse whatsoever for that performance. It was unwatchable. They were genuinely unwatchable. They didn't create anything. It was just cross after cross after cross and hope for the best. No lines, no movement, no coherence. I don't know. You want to talk about individuals. Marcelo Brozovic, Lautaro Martinez, Romelu Lukaku,
00:30:30
Speaker
were woeful, woeful. Lautaro Martinez is supposedly a leader of the squad. What is he leading? What is he leader of? Your players, your senators are the ones you look to to lead you when it's going badly, and he's pulling stinker after stinker after stinker.
00:30:58
Speaker
Romelu Lukaku, as I've said numerous times, he's finished at this level. He'll score the odd goal here or there, but he's finished at this level.
00:31:09
Speaker
which makes this notion of taking him over Paolo di Bala even more infuriating, because it was a wrong decision, especially when you take into consideration how Lautaro and Lukaku don't look to be gelling at all, because Lautaro's the main man, not Lukaku.
00:31:31
Speaker
and Lukaku needs to be the main man to feel good, and Lautaro is obviously not able to fill the shoes of being the main man. So it's just wrong decision there as well. Bad management.
00:31:43
Speaker
Nickolo Barella was probably Inter's best player on the night. Marcelo Brozovic was dreadful. The goal was partly because of him and Barella. I mean, when him and Barella, his BFF, they misunderstand each other in the positioning. They go walk about the midfield. You could drive a tank through it.
00:32:02
Speaker
Um, again, he's, he's, he's just, he just looks completely disinterested. He looks like he's, he's part, he looks tired. He looks, he looks too old. He, no, it's, it's every single one of them. And I haven't even gotten to Densel Dumfries yet, which is what are we even talking about here? Seriously. How is this man a professional football player?
00:32:27
Speaker
What kind of positioning, what kind of decision making are we talking about here when you decide to block the view of your goalkeeper backing down five, 10 meters. So if it even hits a rebound, he plays the guy on side. He is footballing wise. He has no footballing IQ whatsoever. Footballing wise, Denzel Dunfries is brain dead, completely brain dead.
00:32:55
Speaker
Technically, we know he's limited, to put it diplomatically. Inter want 50 million for this guy? You'd be lucky if someone pays you five, ten.
00:33:05
Speaker
It's an absolute disgrace what he is doing week in, week out at Inter. He's a complete liability. Inter are playing with 10 men. When you play a 3-5-2 or a 3-4-2-1, the wing backs are probably the most important position. You have to have wing backs that work.
00:33:27
Speaker
Inder went from Inder of Denzil Dumfries and he's woeful, absolutely woeful. He can't cross, he can't beat his man, he can't pass, his positioning is pathetic, his technique is a joke. I mean, this is
00:33:45
Speaker
absolutely shambolic yeah what what he did for the goal was was i just i couldn't believe it what i saw that he he backtracked instead of going out to the ball in fact he placed positioned himself right in the line of the the eyesight of um onana who seemed to already be struggling with his eyesight before before that not let alone having dumphrey standing in front of him and and yeah that completely blindsided and
00:34:11
Speaker
Yes, I agree with those who say that Onana's positioning is a little bit wrong. I think he's a little bit to the left as well, absolutely. But Denzel comes for you. Yeah, he was too close to his face. I agree with that. But he wouldn't have saved it anyway because the ball came through Darmian's legs and as soon as you shoot through your player's legs, they can never save it. It's usually very hard. Yeah. Very hard. No, but look, it's all of that. But Simon Inzagi, he's not making life easy for himself.
00:34:39
Speaker
Why did you take off Barela and not Brozovic? I understand the reasoning. Well, you want Brozovic to be 90 minutes. You want him to get into match fitness and blah, blah, blah, blah. But on that, when the game looks like it does, you have to focus on winning the game or salvaging the game. Screw every other overarching objective. Deliver the result on the day. And the decision to take Barela off to put on Mikitarian was stupid.
00:35:08
Speaker
It was wrong, it was stupid. And then he takes off Lukaku and puts on Correa and plays some sort of a weird 4312 that Inte don't know how to handle, no lines, no plan, nothing. It was literally crosses an Inshallah. That's all it was. And it's 18 months into the project with you in charge,
00:35:34
Speaker
This is not good enough. And nine defeats, a third of your games in the Serie A you have lost. That's completely unacceptable. Completely unacceptable. And to me, there is no doubt in my mind that he's gone in the summer. This is unacceptable at Inter, because they're probably going to lose one or two more games too.
00:35:58
Speaker
I don't see them beating Napoli away, even if Napoli are clear champions by then. I just don't see that happening. His only grace, if he wants to keep his job, is if he wins the Champions League, which I think is impossible, to be honest. I don't see how this team goes. If they go past Benfica, it's a small miracle, because again, I don't think this team is good enough, and it's shown that it's not good enough.
00:36:20
Speaker
There are very good players on it individually, but the key players keep letting you down time and time again or are not good enough.
00:36:28
Speaker
It's just, and I have to say, at the end, the most disgraceful thing tonight, on that night, was not even the handball, the scandal concerning the handball. It was that Beppe Marotta did not come out and speak before or after the game after this. They send out Simone Inzagi. That's woefully pathetic. That's woefully cowardly. That's woeful cowardice.
00:36:55
Speaker
They send this guy out because they know that he's a dead man walking and they don't want to be, they want to wash their hands clean of it. Well done. What a message to send to the squad for the rest of the season where you don't even go out and defend the club, the coach, anything that anything just go out there and say, this is, this is unacceptable. These decisions or anything. No, you send in Zagia, nothing from any of you because you know, because you don't want to, you don't want to dirty your hands because you're protecting yourselves.
00:37:22
Speaker
It's pathetic. And it puts all of the remainder of Intel's season at risk here, because Intel still have to finish in the top four. They actually have a viable route to the final of the Champions League. But in order to do that, you need to have a club and an organization and a management that looks at least pretends that it exists and is strong. Intel don't have that. Steven Zhang and Beppe Marotta come out talking when Intel do well. Congratulations. Easy to talk then. It's easy to talk when you're winning.
00:37:50
Speaker
It's pathetic, absolutely pathetic. I mean, the only thing I would add to all this is just expanding on my point before about Juventus looking fresher than Inter. And this is something that I said on Thursday. And as I said after the Inter beating Porto, this was one of my concerns about Inter.
Rome Derby: Key Moments and Discipline Issues
00:38:11
Speaker
between now and the end of the season, just how tired Inter look and they were absolutely exhausted in those last 10 minutes and then into injury time against Porter. They were out on their feet, players were all getting cramped.
00:38:23
Speaker
guys getting injured. We saw that Porto, it's no coincidence that Porto created their three big chances in injury time in that game. And I said it, I said it on Thursday. I said, I'm worried about how tired in Silicon. You responded and you said that there's a reason, there's a simple reason why that is, which I think is
00:38:48
Speaker
only partly true, but is definitely true, which is, well, look at the age of into squats. They're the oldest squad in the city. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Average age of 30, 30, 37. Yeah. Yeah. Something like that. So, I mean, that, that does play, that does definitely does play a role. And, you know, they were very flat, very lacking in energy in this game and they had two days extra rest than Juventus. And yes, you're right. It was a much tougher game, the Porter game. Juventus against Freiburg was, was a lot easier, but it's still, they had two days extra rest.
00:39:17
Speaker
They still played 90 minutes and they had two days extra rest. So, you know, they shouldn't really be had that as an excuse when they had five days. They had five days rest as well. They did four. It was three. You had said three days. You know, so it's I think it's the only saving grace. The only positive of that night was Bella Nova. I don't want to see the little Humphries play. Put it put it into a shirt on ever again as a starter.
00:39:40
Speaker
I don't ever want to see that again. Can I just expand though on the tiredness point? No, no, I want to ask you because this is now, I was looking at this, Inter have now lost four of their last seven games after Champions League matches, which definitely tells a story again to do with this tiredness thing that once they play and they have a tough, because in matches in the Champions League are a lot more exerting than they are in Serie A, the tempo is higher, the matches are tougher.
00:40:05
Speaker
You might have to travel away from home in Europe as they did in this game and in other games as well. I don't know, I added with the age, can Interhandle play twice a week now? Have they got the Antonio Conte-itis of not being able to play more than once a week? I don't know, but this is a concern. It's a combination of everything. Yes, so do I. I fear that we might see a freefall, a complete collapse over the next few months.
00:40:37
Speaker
because mentally, it's all of the above. It's everything I described last week as well. You have, what is it, 10, 12 players who are not even sure they're going to be at the club, whether they're contract expiring this year, or if they have a contract beyond that, they know that the club might sell them at any point. It's all of that. It's Inzaghi who
00:40:59
Speaker
is not, this is something he needs to work on. Like I said last week, he's not assertive enough. He's not angry enough. He's not passionate. He doesn't seem to be able to have that fire that Konta has or Konta has a little bit, maybe too much of, but there's none of that. And he needs to develop that if he wants to become that top manager that I think tactically and footballing wise, I think he's got everything.
00:41:26
Speaker
But again, we're talking a passion, talking a passion. We have to move on now because we've been 41 minutes talking about the Derby this earlier. Let's talk about the Rome Derby, which was a which was was a bad game, but it was very, very passionate game, very, very ill tempered game, which Latcio won, won the all thanks to Mattias Zacagni's winner. They do the double over
00:41:53
Speaker
Roma for the first time in season 11 12 no it's the first time they've done it since 2012 yeah that's correct that's correct yeah i mean we have to start let's start talking about Roma first and then we'll move on to Laxio because this game again was conditioned completely by a moment of absolute madness from from Ibanez
00:42:13
Speaker
who you've never been a big fan of anyway, but can I just say one thing? Can I just say one thing? Ebert Raffaele? I always call him Raffaelebenes. I always call him Raffaelebenes. He's a Roger. He is a Roger. If there ever was a Roger, he is it. Raffaelebenes was a rugby player, right? Roger Ebenes.
00:42:36
Speaker
Yeah, he is the worst player in the history of their own Derby. There is no doubt about that. Zero doubt about it. Every single Derby he plays, he costs Roma the Derby. The two Derbys in previous seasons, he gave away the most comical goals he gave away. And now on this game, he gets sent off for two yellows after 32 minutes. I mean,
00:43:01
Speaker
Here's the problem with having Gianluca Mancini has the impulse and emotional restraint of Charles Manson, and Roger Ibanez is brain dead. He's stupid.
00:43:16
Speaker
a tough game or a big game and it really, the pressure gets there.
Roma's Discipline Concerns and Season Impact
00:43:21
Speaker
I mean, it does these asinine things. And this is why I don't believe in either one of them. And I don't think they're good enough to be at Roma with Champions League top four ambitions. I think fifth is where you can ask of them. Yes, you can ask, you can say, well, they've spent more, but it's not just about spending, it's about how you spend.
00:43:40
Speaker
These two are the starters, and they're not good enough. They're evidently not good enough, at least not consistently in a league. And we've seen this. How many times do we have to beat this dead horse? How many times do we have to see Roger Ebert and his gift away?
00:43:55
Speaker
important goals in tight situations, whether it's the Derby or whatever it is. How many times do we have to do this? How many times did Gianluca Mancini has to lose his mind and get himself sent off? I mean, it happens time and time and time again. And that brings us on nicely to the root of the problem here, and that is Rome's lack of discipline, something that we've spoken about in the last few weeks.
00:44:20
Speaker
you know, last week, it was Kumbula against Sasuolo that cost him the game. This week, it was Ibanez. The week before that, it was Mourinho against Cremenese. So, Mourinho missed this game. A member of the coaching staff got sent off last week. Another one got sent off this week. It's Lezio as well. I mean, this is what I was saying last week after the Sasuolo game. Mourinho
00:44:38
Speaker
caused all this. He's created this environment where nobody can control themselves. Cristante was also sent off after the final whistle of this together with Maricich. They're going to be absolutely decimated in defense in the next game. Ibanez suspended, Mancini suspended, he got a yellow card and he was lucky he wasn't sent off as well in this game.
00:44:58
Speaker
uh kumbula is is i think will still be out as well because it was a violent conduct wasn't it the last week so i mean the minimum two games yeah exactly so i mean this lack of discipline is costing roma completely costing them at the moment
00:45:15
Speaker
No, look, there's nothing more to add to that. I really have nothing more to add to that. And I think it's a shame because I think now it's, for me, I honestly thought Roma were going to finish in the top four. I thought Mourinho was going to, they turned a corner, but evidently they haven't. All their eggs are now in the Europa League basket. And I think that's where, I think we're going to see a Roma. It's still only one point off the top four somehow. What the hell?
00:45:39
Speaker
Yeah, but then it depends with Juventus. If Juventus get those 15 points back. No, I think Romare are drifting out now. I think all their eggs are in the Europa League basket. And to be honest, that's probably the right thing to do because Lazio, they've done the opposite. They sacrificed Europe completely to go after the Champions League. And so far, that's paying off for them. Well, let's come on to that.
00:46:05
Speaker
Let's come up to Lazio, because Mourinho was criticising that before the game, wasn't he, about Lazio sacking off the Europa League. But, I mean, I guess it did pay off. I mean, I don't really know whether I should give the credit to Lazio for Cesari, for Lazio winning this game, because in all honesty, like I said,
00:46:23
Speaker
Roma were really barely troubled until the goal. I think they had one chance just before they scored the goal, where Ruth Patricia came out from, I think it was Felipe Anderson, and that was it. They didn't create anything else. I mean, I thought Roma were defending really pretty comfortably, pretty well. Smalling was fantastic again.
00:46:38
Speaker
I thought even Mancini was doing quite well until the goal, they scored in his right channel. I thought they were pretty comfortable. I don't think Lazio played very well in this game. I think they got their moment, they scored. So I guess at the end of the day, it did pay off and I'm sure it will help them for the rest of the season. But if you say to me, who would you pick out from Lazio in this game that was outstanding?
00:47:00
Speaker
I wouldn't really throw in as many you can pick out other than that. Yeah, but isn't that their strength though, that he's made them into a team, Sarri? That they're all kind of one cohesive unit. And I think we really, this is again something that
00:47:14
Speaker
But I don't think this was a great team performance. I don't think they were really, I don't think they played particularly well in this game. Quite flat, actually, but you know, they got the win. Yeah, but that's true. But that's true. But at the end of the day, I think Lazio, he he positioned them to play like this. Like, again, Sarri has become the pragmatic ideologue.
00:47:34
Speaker
I keep hammering this point because it's true. This season, I've never seen Sarri do this. It's like he's undergone some sort of metamorphosis last summer, and he's realized that here he has to coach and adapt every game. If he were to finish in the top four,
00:47:55
Speaker
then that's a fantastic achievement by Sarri. There is no doubt about that. And I think, again, he's throwing his hat in the ring for a bigger job, no doubt. But to go to this game again, I think the fact that he had them so well positioned
00:48:10
Speaker
against Roma, and then they were okay then after that to not attack too much because they had the goal. Zakani's individual performance is what really wins it, this game, and it's a tight game. And look, the Sarri teams can retain possession forever. So
00:48:34
Speaker
That's the problem when you're goal goal down to them and you're chasing because then you have to move forward, but then you open yourself to counter attacks. But Roma didn't really do that. They were almost like guarding the 1-0 and hoping for set pieces to get the equalizer, which they got, but then correctly was this lab for offside.
Lazio's Triumph over Roma: A Strategic Win
00:48:51
Speaker
It's not credit to credit credit. So can you let's talk let's talk about the candy then because he scores the winner and is he getting enough credit and love that he deserves because he's the highest Italian scorer in the major European leagues now granted.
00:49:01
Speaker
But
00:49:08
Speaker
that's not that hard this season. That's so bad. It's only the attackers have been, but he's got nine goals this season and that makes him the highest Italian scorer in the major European leagues. So, you know, it's quite damning and we've seen that. I've always rated him. I really liked him at Hellas as well. I think we have to give him the respect he deserves. I think it's a little bit like, okay, he's not a YouTube compilation player.
00:49:33
Speaker
But he does get points, you know, he wins points, he scores goal, he makes assists. And you have to respect that. And when you have a team like Lazio who are in their second in the Serie A after 27 matchdays, that's fantastic. That is nothing short of fantastic. And you have to respect that and you should praise that. And I think I know, you know, we we discussed this more. We'll discuss this more deeply in the Q&A pod on tomorrow because we've got a question from one of our patrons on that.
00:50:04
Speaker
so make sure to check that out. But I honestly think that whatever it is, the problem they have with him, they need to resolve it. Mancini needs to get over it. It's his job to get the best out of the players available to him. He's a national team coach. He's not club football. When Zakani is doing these points, he should be ahead of Orsolini. He should be ahead of lots of players. That's my opinion.
00:50:29
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, listen, he's a player that is talented. He's technically very talented. He can beat his man, he's got pace, he's got dribbling. He can go outside and inside. He is a goal threat. He's got, like I said, nine goals this season, but he also has four assists. But I think that, you know, there definitely is a debate, and we'll see, because it looks like Kiesa will probably be pulling out of the Italy squad for the England game, which means that Manchini will have to
00:50:58
Speaker
probably you assume will call up someone else in his place. So it's possible that he could still get a call up. But, you know, I think there definitely is a debate to be had that, you know, does he deserve an Italy call? I mean, he is. And, you know, as we said, this has been an absolute crisis for Italian attackers this season, in particular, I mean, everyone
00:51:19
Speaker
is performing badly, is injured, is not playing for their clubs, is out of form. I mean, who's in form out of the Italian forwards right now? I mean, everyone, almost everyone's out of form. Nionso, maybe, for Leeds, and even he's had a bit of a dip over the last month. Everybody else, I mean, everybody's out of form right now. There's no one. I mean, Zakhani probably is the most, has probably been the most consistent
00:51:44
Speaker
Italian forward in Europe, in Europe's big leagues this year. I don't think he almost certainly has been. It has been more consistent than him this season. And so, yeah, so I mean, for that reason, you're probably saying, yeah, maybe he maybe he does deserve a call up. But I think that obviously Mancini, there are issues there between him and Mancini. He, you know, the Zagnolo beef that he has with Zagnolo.
00:52:11
Speaker
Mancini sided with Zagnolo before but also more so Zacchini got called up last year for a nation's league game and he pulled out at the end of the season apparently with an injury and that wasn't believed by Mancini and the coaching staff they felt that he basically made that up in order to get extra holiday and that really upset and angered Mancini and I don't think he's forgiven him for it and so I think that is
00:52:38
Speaker
Yeah, he's got that against him as well. Yeah, but Manchini needs to get over it. It's not like, what has he done? The Zagnolo and him, okay, they're both a little bit like, you know... Trailer trash. Yeah, bimbo mink, yeah. But whatever, they're both trailer trash, fine. But at the end of the day,
00:53:04
Speaker
Your job is, it's not a social club, it's a team to deliver results and unless he's disrupting in the most controversial way then, you know, find a way to reintegrate him and get the best out of him. He should get that stupid tattoo on his neck removed then he might get a call up. Here we go again with the neck tattoos.
00:53:25
Speaker
Non non car. Why? Why do people get tattoos? Why do people get tattoos on the neck? Why? Why? I don't like him either, but I'm not. It just looks so ridiculous. It's just like Edison from Manchester City. Edison from Manchester City. Marcelo Brozovic has the bomb emoji tattooed on his neck. Like what do we? Yeah.
00:53:52
Speaker
I mean, I mean, a small tattoo on the neck I can just about accept, but those stupid big tattoos like like Edison has. I mean, he's already look at him. He's not an oil painting already to look at. And then he has that stupid he looks like Jaws out of James Bond movie. And then he gets that stupid neck tattoo, the most disgusting tattoo ever. I mean, what are you doing? I mean,
00:54:13
Speaker
Anyway, I've gone off on one. Let's talk about Torino Napoli. Well done to Lazio. Let's talk about Torino Napoli. Sorry to Lazio. I think they're finishing in the top four now, honestly. I really think so. Yeah, I lean in that way as well.
Milan's Struggles: Form and Tactical Reevaluation
00:54:31
Speaker
They've opened themselves up a gap now, five-point gap on Roma in fifth and four points on Milan, who, as I said before, Milan playing Napoli in the next game, so that can become seven potentially.
00:54:42
Speaker
And which is a lot with only what will only be what 10 games left, something like that. You know, let's you play Monza next. So they could potentially and more importantly, they're out of Europe, whereas everyone else is in Europe and we've seen. No, I think I think they're going to finish the top four. I think one of I think if you ever get their points back, one of Inter and Mila need to watch out.
00:55:01
Speaker
because that's what I think are assuming. I really do. If Juventus do get their points back, Nimmer, because I know you keep saying that, you know, and I agree with you that it's very likely that they'll get points deducted for the wages thing. But how much? Will it happen this season? Will it happen this season? Because I'm not seeing much being talked about at the moment. No, I'm not seeing much about that either. It could be that they start next season with minus points.
00:55:24
Speaker
It could be. Yeah. Because it's April the 19th, April the 20th is the appeal date for the 15 points. But I mean, we're running out of time now. There's not long left in the rest of the season. Yeah, they absolutely do. I mean, we'll have to wait and see. I mean, I think you will get those points back. And I think Lazio finishing the top four. I think one of the way things are going with Inter and Milan,
00:55:46
Speaker
They should be worried. They should really be worried. Both clubs should be worried. Let's talk about Milan first then, and then we'll talk about Napoli. As soon as you've brought that in, that's a nice segue there. So Milan loses again. The revival is definitely over now. In fact, you could even say the crisis or the mini crisis is back. So Milan loses to Udenezi. What did it finish? Was it 3-1 in the end? Yeah. 3-1? Yeah.
00:56:11
Speaker
3-1. So much going on, I can't even remember what the score was. It was a terrible performance for Milan. I mean, that's the thing. This game, I mean, Udinese's last home win in the Serie A was against Inter 3-1 in September. And these two games are mirrors of each other.
00:56:31
Speaker
that game, they beat Inter 3-1 and this game they beat Milan 3-1. It was two away teams that were absolutely poor, awful, that lacked energy, that lacked bite hunger, they weren't concentrated, they weren't focused, against the Sotil team that was so well organized, and you have to be switched on, because Sotil, that's an interesting, watch out for him, he's a really interesting coaching career developing there.
00:56:59
Speaker
going to be really interesting to see what happens to him moving forward. And Milan were just poor, both as a team individually. And again, you know, playing by, or as one of our patrons calls him, Fodo Ballon Dore as a left wing back.
00:57:19
Speaker
I mean, it says it all, doesn't it? And not just that, it's for me, as I said a few weeks ago, when they were going through that patch 4-0, 4-1-0 wins and not conceding. And I said, I think the quest for me, the test comes when they take away Krunich and integrate Benassar, how that holds up defensively. And I think we know the answer to that now. This back three cannot needs one man in front of them to help them defend because otherwise they're exposed.
00:57:46
Speaker
Whether it's whoever that is, and it just happens to be at Milan, that it's crunich. Because Benastir and Tonali together can't seem to balance that.
00:57:56
Speaker
and Milan get overrun in midfield, which was the very reason they changed to this formation from the 4-2-3-1 to begin with. So I really think that regardless of if it's a 4-2-3-1 or if they go to a back four or continue with a back three, they need three men in midfield. They have to have Krunic in front of that defense, no matter if it's four or three. I honestly think that's the only way.
00:58:21
Speaker
Yeah, for me, yeah, I think so too. I think so too. I think that you know, you've been Milan moved from a from a back four to a back three, purely because that you know, they were
00:58:32
Speaker
leaking so many goals and they wanted to try and become a little bit more concrete, a little bit more solid and build on that as their foundation. But they had that run of four clean sheets and we're all talking about, yeah, this back three is looking great. They're looking solid. But they've now conceded six in their last three Serie A games. So that concrete Milan has disappeared. And actually in 2023, there's only two teams.
00:58:57
Speaker
that have let in more goals than Milan in 2023. Cremones is one. The other team, I've forgotten who it was. I think it might have been Verona maybe. Or no, I think it's Selena Turner. It's Cremones in Selena Turner, the only two teams in Serie A that have conceded more goals than Milan in 2023.
00:59:16
Speaker
So that defensive solidity has completely gone. Four games now without a win in all competitions, one point from the last three Serie A games.
00:59:30
Speaker
Why should they stick with this back three? It's clearly the little mini, you know, jolt that it gave Milan. It's gone now, you know? No, it's clearly gone. And they need to watch out because they can miss the top four. They can miss the top four.
00:59:51
Speaker
they can really do, which would be a disaster. The thing is, they over-performed a little bit last year, and I think a lot of people's raised their expectations a little bit too soon.
01:00:08
Speaker
And I think Milan, we're seeing them kind of maybe perform a little bit on par with the quality they actually have on the pitch. It doesn't mean that I don't think that the team is bad. I think it's a young project. I still think we're a few one or two seasons away from Milan really peaking. But having said that, they can't afford to miss top four. They have to find a way through this. And I still maintain that
01:00:34
Speaker
If you're going to play, I think a three-man midfield, whether it's a 3-5-2,
01:00:38
Speaker
or a 4-3-3. That's the way forward. Personally, I think the natural progression is a Sarri 4-3-3, but even if it's not, and it's Antonio Conte's 3-5-2, it's a three-man midfield. It really, really is. I think that's where it is. I agree. I said that from day one. I said that from day one, even when they went to a back three, I said I wasn't convinced by it. It kind of worked for a while, but it's clearly not working again now. And
01:01:07
Speaker
you know they completely destroyed their attacking qualities by going to this back three as well and that leads us on nicely to
01:01:17
Speaker
to Rafael Liao. I'm glad. How do Milan solve this Rafael Liao problem? I want to ignore about what's going to happen from the summer onwards, because we've spoken about that. How do Milan solve this problem now, between now and the end of the season? Get Rafael Liao back to playing that is best. Get Rafael Liao to make sure that they finish in the top four, which is now going to be a battle.
01:01:40
Speaker
give them a chance against Napoli in the Champions League of making that a tie. I mean, he's now gone 11 games without a goal with just one assist right now.
Napoli's Dominance in Serie A and European Ambitions
01:01:53
Speaker
I mean, his form, his whole demeanor, his attitude, he'd look so unhappy. I mean, what can Milan do? I would play him in a 3-5-2 as one of the strikers next to Giroud.
01:02:10
Speaker
And because he wants to play centrally, that's what he wants to do. And I think that would be correct. That's the natural progression for him. But I don't think he can play. He shouldn't be too isolated. He should be cutting in from the left, but he should be with Giroud's ability to hold up the ball.
01:02:26
Speaker
then yes, I think they need to play a 3-5-2 with him. And with Teo of course coming back and Junior Messias or whatever, and more runs from midfield from Tonali, or if you want to play even Brian Diaz a bit deeper, I don't know. But regardless, I think until the end of the season,
01:02:45
Speaker
they should play him as one of the two and a three, five, two. I really think that because his three, four, two, one is not working for Milan defensively, and he's offering absolutely nothing himself. So maybe if they can afford to give him a little bit more creative freedom and have the others around him to get the most out of him, maybe that's the way to go.
01:03:05
Speaker
Yeah, I think definitely they should go back to a back four. I would go back to kind of what he knows rather than testing them in a new formation. Personally, no more experimenting, no more changes at this stage. I would probably go back to a 4-2-3-1 or ideally, as I've said so many times, go to a 4-3-3, which is not really that dissimilar to a 4-2-3-1 for many players. For most players, it will be quite similar. It's only the odd player here and there will have to change some of their functions.
01:03:35
Speaker
for Liao, put him on the left wing, put him back to where he was before and it's not working at all. Moving forward, I think the best thing for him and Milan is to part ways in the summer because that's money that Milan can spend elsewhere and the money he's asking Milan for is not worth it.
01:04:03
Speaker
He's just not worth it. And I think maybe this is the end of the line here. If he wants to develop, he needs for everybody so that Milan have some money to spend as well next summer. I think that would be the best way forward for both Milan and him, honestly, because this is not tenable.
01:04:24
Speaker
Honestly, it's not. Zlatan said in the game, he doesn't seem happy, but we are doing everything for him. He has to come back to make a difference. I mean, the teammates are acknowledging that he's not happy. Milan need him badly because there's no one else in attack that's providing a goal threat, except for Giroud. I mean, Zlatan scored and we have to give a shout out to Zlatan because it's kind of been forgotten among everything that's been going on this weekend that Zlatan has become the oldest goal scorer in Serie A history.
01:04:50
Speaker
41 years and 166 days, overtaking Billy Costa-Curta, who was at 41 years and 25 days in May 2007. Also in a defeat to Udenessa. It's historical. It's fantastic. There's a lot more we can debate about that, the penalty. Was it a penalty? Should it be encroachment? I mean, so much.
01:05:14
Speaker
I don't want to go there because we're way over, but you know, well done to Zlatan. Sorry to shut you off then, but yeah, let's move on to Napoli now. The Osseman and Corrara show again. Osseman 21 goals in the Serie A so far this season, equalling Samuel Littor's record for the most prolific African player to score, the most goals an African player has scored in one Serie A season, 21.
01:05:43
Speaker
So he's equalled that with about 11 games left to spare. So the question is, will he reach 30? That's where I am with this. He scored eight-headed goals. Like we said, is he the best header of the ball in the world right now? He's 25 goals in all competitions.
01:06:02
Speaker
No, look, it's getting completely insane now. And Ivan Yurich's teams are difficult to play against, especially away. And they go there and just completely rinse them, rip them a new one. And you could tell, I mean, I don't know if you saw Yurich's statements before the game, how complimentary he was of Spaletti saying he's a real coach.
01:06:25
Speaker
said he steals his ideas yeah he admitted it's like i learned from him and that's i i understand why he said that because you can learn from from spaletti you really can um you know he's he's been you know i don't want to repeat what we said but he's been so you know always the bridesmaid never the bride kind of coach uh and but he he is a top coach he's always been a top coach i personally think that
01:06:53
Speaker
It's also him being at his best. I've never seen Spalletti on top of things as much as he is today. Off the pitch, on the pitch, tactically, in proposed match comments, in statements, how he controls the dressing room, the group. This is Spalletti. He's never been better. This is him at his peak. And we saw again, you know, they are just unbelievable. And the question is,
01:07:20
Speaker
I think, and this is my point, I think in terms of quality overall, Mourinho's treble winners, Juventus in 16-17 and this Napoli are the three best Serie A champions that we've seen in the last 12 years. I think they're in a league of their own. Yeah, they're definitely in the debate for the best, the best since
01:07:51
Speaker
Since 2006, since Calchopley, because after Calchopley, obviously, the Seria declined quite badly. So, you know, it's difficult if you go before 2006, I think you would find, you would find other themes. Well, they spent more as well. I mean, if you look at Roma from the, you know, turn of the century. And they had all the biggest stars and the stars in Seria. So that's why I think it's easier to kind of debate it since 2006. But yeah, I mean, I think you've got
01:08:17
Speaker
Inter's treble winners. I mean, Juventus, I wouldn't know which ones to pick as the best out of that, because there's a lot of different teams. I mean, the Conte's final season, they got the record break in total, 102 points, you know, but then you've got the 2015 team, which nearly won the treble. They reached the Champions League final, Allegri's first season, and that was an amazing team with that with that legendary midfield of Pirla, Pogba and Vidal and then Marcheseo as well as an option.
01:08:43
Speaker
And then you got the 2015-16 when they overtook Napoli and went on that long winning run. But then you got the 2016-17, which is the one that you picked out. Higuain's first season when they almost... Barcelona, the way they dismantled Barcelona that year was just... Yeah.
01:09:00
Speaker
Yes, I don't know. I don't know who I'd pick as the best Juventus team during that night. I'm not sure. But from Inter, the Inter one definitely is the trouble-winning season. They're up there. It's those three. I think those three teams, those three squads are head and shoulders above everyone else. And it's looking like... And I want to say this because I honestly think that if Napoli were to go past Milan,
01:09:27
Speaker
in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, and they win the Skoretto, they secure the Skoretto on matchday 32 against Saleritana at home, which is when I think they will do it. Then I think when they secure the Serie A title,
01:09:42
Speaker
all the pressure is gone, and also that city is special. A good friend Patrick Kendrick always says that Naples is a city that doesn't do anything in moderation. It's known for doing that, in a country known for doing that, and that goes both ways. When things go well, Napoli fly off into space. When things go back, they circle down the toilet. After winning the Serie A title,
01:10:07
Speaker
they will be a feast unlike anything anyone has ever seen, and they will just catapult the energy that will release. And if that means by then they will also have gone through to the semi-final of the Champions League, that'll just be them enjoying life.
Tottenham Under Conte: Cultural and Performance Issues
01:10:26
Speaker
And if they can all stay fit, I'm saying I think they're winning the Champions League if they go past Mila, and they secure the Serie A title around them.
01:10:35
Speaker
then I think they're winning the Champions League, and then we're talking one of the great, if they even eclipse the accomplishment of Maradona's Napoli, but that's the level we're at then. Yeah, that's definitely something to debate as well. Okay, right, rest the Serie A calendar this weekend. Sassuolo won, Spezia kneel, Atalanta two, Empoli won, and that's four wins in a row for Sassuolo, and Atalanta back in the top four race with another goal from Rasmus Wieland. Monza won, Clemonese won, and Selenitana two, Bologna two,
01:11:05
Speaker
And then on Sunday, we had Sampdoria 3, Verona 1, their first home win of the season. That's a huge blow for Verona in the fight against relegation. Samp are still miles away. They're nine points off safety. I think this is the game that costs Hellas Verona. Possibly. This is the one where they will go down and say, oh, that's where we lost the chance to stay up. That's a very winnable game they just threw away. Yeah, for sure.
01:11:36
Speaker
Fiorentina won, let's say, Neil. Fiorentina are in fantastic form at the moment. They had a really good win in Europe as well. They got a good draw in the conference league and they are not far off the European places in in Serie A now as well. So they've hit form at the right time and they have Internet. They do. Of course they do. OK, you're right. Just before. Oh gosh, we still got a meltdown. Yeah, we got to talk about content because that was one of the funniest things.
01:12:05
Speaker
Yeah, it's only Conte Meltdown, so they draw 3-0 with Southampton, 3-1 up with 30 minutes to go, they can see two late goals, draw 3-3, does a pro smash press conference, goes on a 10-minute rant, has a complete meltdown, throws all his players under the bus, criticises the owner Levy, although he later told him that he wasn't criticising him.
01:12:24
Speaker
in it like it's good size and so the thing is he does it so smartly as well with this owner for twenty years no one like he it's very like he he does it so diplomatically slides that one in because you can't you can argue it both ways and then he clarifies that it doesn't mean that.
01:12:43
Speaker
But yes, the overarching message here was the players. He was fed up with them. And to be honest, anyone who listens to this podcast knows I have no favorites in the Premier League. I don't support any team in the Premier League. I have teams I'm sympathetic towards. So I've got no agenda here.
01:13:00
Speaker
I was angry when I saw that goal, that Walcott goal. How do you allow a simple pass to go through three lines of players? It wasn't, it wasn't a no look Ronaldinho pass. It was the simplest of passes straight down. I mean, I would be fuming as well. I think everything he said, every syllable he said about the players was 110 percent right. I watched that and go,
01:13:29
Speaker
Well, he's right. Everything he said is correct. Everything single thing he said is correct. And if they sack him, well, then Levi's not a serious owner. This is not a serious club because then you just basically give another alibi to the players. I mean, if you saw what he said, Konti comes out and says, I don't even want to talk about the penalty. Yes, I don't think blah, blah, blah. But then he goes.
01:13:52
Speaker
He's like the attitude, the desire, they're not playing for the badge and the shirt, they have no respect for themselves. Everything he said was right. I can't hold it against him because I would have been happy. Sometimes I think fans wish that their manager would speak like this about their players when they deserve it. What remains to be seen now is how do the players react after that? Because if he's lost the dressing room, he has to leave now.
01:14:21
Speaker
But if he hasn't and you want to back him, he can actually still finish fourth with these guys. And then obviously I think he'll leave. I don't think he's going to stay past this season. I'd be very surprised if he did. Yeah, I mean, I'll repeat what I've said. I'll repeat what I've said quite a few occasions in recent weeks around in and around the AC Milan games is that, you know, a lot of what he said here is right. You know, there is a cultural issue at the club and a lot of the players are not good enough.
01:14:50
Speaker
But, you know, this Spurs squad, are they really a top four team in the Premier League? They're not. For me, they're not. You look at them, player for player on paper, they're not one of the four best teams in the Premier League on paper.
01:15:06
Speaker
Hante overachieved massively getting fourth last season, took them up from where were they, ninth, when he took over. And being fourth now this season, right now, I mean, that could change. You know, there's teams chasing them, but as it stands, they're still fourth at the moment. He has overachieved right now, getting them into fourth. I do accept that Tottenham have played poorly this season, and they've been very inconsistent, especially in 2023. And, you know, they probably, they've,
01:15:33
Speaker
They've eked out a lot of results without playing well. They were knocked out early in all the cups so they won't win anything. Against Tottenham, low block trying to defend against bottom in the league.
01:15:49
Speaker
I don't like that. I don't like that at all. They haven't been like that too much this season. I know that to an extent that is the Conte way. So, I mean, he does, you know, there's two things are true. He does need to take some responsibility for that. But the bottom line is that I think he's overachieved massively with this Tottenham team because, you know, they're not better than Chelsea on paper. They're not better than Liverpool on paper. I know those squads have problems. You know, Newcastle, they're even better than Newcastle on paper.
01:16:15
Speaker
maybe they are, but probably not by much. So, so, so, yeah, I think that I think that he is right to be frustrated with the players. And, you know, as I said, last week or the week before, I think that, you know, Tottenham have bought really badly. I mean, look at the players that Peratici has brought in. How many of them, you know, are of a top four level? I'm not sure that many of them are Romero.
01:16:42
Speaker
Romero, maybe, and not many others. So I think a lot of the blame is to go on Perattice as well. So yeah, I think there's no doubt he will leave. The only question is, will he leave before then?
Italy's Euro 2024 Qualifiers: Squad and Strategy
01:16:55
Speaker
Does he want the sack? Did he want the sack with this? Will he still be there next game? I don't think he wanted the sack. I don't know if he'll be there, but I think if Levi sacks him, he's not a serious, then Spurs aren't a serious club.
01:17:07
Speaker
It's obvious. For me, at this moment, if you sack Antonio Conte when he said the truth about the players, then you're siding with the players. Every coach is toast in that situation and you're not a serious club. That's how I see it, honestly.
01:17:30
Speaker
Of course, Conte has to take responsibility. There's no doubt about that. He's paid. He's on a lot of money. I think it's 15 million a year or something. But look, it's at the end of the day, these are the players he's got. And this is how it is. And I think it's such a shame that Destiny with Dodgy is going to that mess next year. I really, really hope that either if Conte stays or somebody, they send him on loan back to Italy or something because Destiny with Dodgy is an important player. I want him to play under a top coach and develop.
01:18:00
Speaker
I look at this from an Italian national team perspective and I feel bad if he goes to that mess, if Konta's not there.
01:18:09
Speaker
to be honest. Yeah, yeah, I agree. Okay, let's just finish off before we do Badger and Prem Face of the Week. Italy's squad for the Euro 2024 qualifiers. So, Italy play England on Thursday in Naples and they play Malta on Sunday away. The other teams in their group are North Macedonia, who of course knocked Italy out of the World Cup, playoff qualifying, and Ukraine, and the top two qualify for the Euros in Germany next year. So,
01:18:37
Speaker
It should be easier for Italy to qualify. Surely you won't fail to qualify again, you'd think. But this first game in England is very, very big.
01:19:08
Speaker
Midfielders, Barella, Cristianci, Fortezi, Georgina, Pellegrini, Pacina, Tonali, Ferrari, and forwards are Berardi, Chiesa, Nianto, Grifo, Pafundi, Politano, Rettegri, Schimacher, Chiesas.
01:19:10
Speaker
goalkeepers Donnarumma, Falcone, Merritt, and Providel.
01:19:24
Speaker
Kiese, there he goes again. Kiese is probably going to pull out with injury. I just love every time. S plus a consonant becomes shk. And I love that. I love that. The Neapolitan in you comes out every time and I absolutely love it. You never change that. Love it. It's endearing. But Kiese is pulling out. DiMarco is pulling out. Prodo is pulling out. You know, it is what it is. I would have liked to see Zakani.
01:19:52
Speaker
Other than that, I don't really have much, you know, Rettigy, we're going to have an interview this week with, isn't it? This week, isn't it, Carlo? Yeah. Well, yeah. Yeah. We're looking to do that to push out on Wednesday. Yeah. A little profile. Yeah. Yeah. With, with Dan. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
01:20:17
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. It's the big talking point here that the fact that Italy's attack is so short on this season goals. No one, no one in Europe, no one's hit double figures. Italian attackers have hit double figures this season in Europe's major leagues. And that dam is everything. It says everything. Everyone's either injured out of form, not playing for their clubs. I mean, Schiemacher is his third choice striker at West Ham.
01:20:46
Speaker
behind Michael Antonio and Danny Ings I mean that that's I mean that's more down to David Moyes being a complete idiot but it's still damning uh and you know it's it's it's the fact that we are naturalizing an Argentinian from the Argentine League who people I've spoken to including Dan ahead of this interview have told me that they rate him very highly but it does show where Italy are right now especially with the number nine the fact that
01:21:11
Speaker
you know, they're having to go to the Argentinian. They were even looking at a player in the Romanian league, Andrea Compagno, who was a namature up until 2020. And they were looking at him playing for Stelbucares. He's desperate. He's absolutely desperate. He's absolutely desperate. And you can understand why.
01:21:27
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, we're short center back as well for this game. And there are not many players, too many players are in form. I think just the inter players who are probably exhausted, well, they looked exhausted off those Porto and Juventus games, and probably Di Lorenzo. They're the only ones that are, that are in form going into this game. So we're, you know, we're, we're, we're in very, very bad shape for this game against England. And
01:21:53
Speaker
you know, it's difficult. We got asked this question in our Q&A on Tuesday's episode. It's difficult to know what formation Manchini should play against England. Should he go to a back three, like a 3-5-2? Or his players preferred formation 4-3-3, but you know, whichever he plays, I don't know who he plays in attack in this game. I haven't got a clue who he picks. Maybe Nianto, because he plays in England.
01:22:13
Speaker
I'd probably play Skamaka and Nianto up front, or Berardi Skamaka. I don't know. It's one of those two, but I prefer Nianto Skamaka. I think Skamaka is the best. You play Skamaka though, even though he's not match fit, I mean, he's barely played. Yeah, but I still started. This is the problem. This is the problem Italy have. I don't know who they play at center, but yeah.
01:22:39
Speaker
They definitely shouldn't play 3-4-3. That was too open to last game against Austria. He needs to end that. England's attackers are all in great form. Rashford is on fire. More goals than anyone in this calendar year, isn't he, in Europe's big leagues. Saka's playing great.
01:22:59
Speaker
I mean, Kane is Kane, even even Tony's got a lot of goals. I mean, they're attacking in great form. The only thing that I would say Italy have over England, which I've always said in the last few years is the centre of midfield, you know, apart from Bellingham, I think all of England's centre midfielders are not playing, not having good seasons at all. Declan Ryess Phillips doesn't play and Mount's been a disaster. Henderson
01:23:21
Speaker
Uh, looks old. I mean, you know, that Italy can win that area, control the midfield. Hopefully for Italy's sake, that will, you know, hope to get them, allow them to, to try and get a good result. But if I'm being, to be honest, I'll take a draw right now with the shape and form and players that it's available. I take a, I take a draw and then try and get the points needed in the other games to qualify. Same, same, same, without a doubt.
Humorous Club Name Mix-ups: 'Prem Face of the Week'
01:23:47
Speaker
Okay, right. Let's finish off with Badger and Primface of the Week. Okay, Badger is a pretty easy one, Nima. Yeah, it's got to be all the Italian teams that got through in Europe, isn't it? It's got to be that. They were all of them. Quarterfinal champion, three teams in the quarterfinals of the Champions League, two in the
01:24:06
Speaker
the Europa League and Fiorentina, who have a clear path to the final of the conference league. So we did a deep dive on Friday on all the Italian teams and the draws and how it looks. So make sure to check that out. It's for Patreon only. So patreon.com. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Do check that out. OK. PremFace is the week. I've got one. Brilliant. Have you got one?
01:24:32
Speaker
No, no, no, I know what you've got. And I think it's fantastic. But there's never any, there's always like, it's more, it's, it's, it's, it's easier to win the Champions League than to become the prem face of the week, because the competition is just Oh, that's correct. That's definitely correct. It started off with the Irish, the Irish started this off, see, they announced that under 19 squads, and they put out a press, you know, press release with the list in the squad, as you know, as the national teams do.
01:24:59
Speaker
and they had an Irish player that plays for Sassoula. They named him playing for Sassoula. So it can happen. It could have just been a typo though. It could easily have been a typo. They just missed a note. So we'll let them off for that. But then England basically, they took it to the final level bus with theirs. So they named England under 21 national team.
01:25:25
Speaker
And there's a play called Jed Spence who plays for Tottenham. Antonio Conte doesn't like, didn't want the Tottenham to sign him so just refused to play him, which is what Antonio Conte always does. Not Antonio Conte signing, he just will not play them to make his own point. So yeah, Jed Spence plays for Tottenham. He got loaned out in January to
01:25:46
Speaker
I'm now going to give it the premise name. So for REM, for REM in, in, in, in, sorry. Yeah, it's legal, isn't it? Yeah. Who does he play? Who does he play for? Jed Spence pays for Ren. Ren plays with Ren.
01:26:04
Speaker
He's on loan. Yeah, he's on loan at Ren, right? So I'm mixing this up now. So Jed Spence is on loan for Ren, right? So they're announcing their score, then they should have put Jed Spence, Ren, right? What they did is they had him down as playing for Stade de Ren, right?
01:26:20
Speaker
So they've mixed this up in so many ways. It's just, it's just hilarious. So let me spell that for you, how they spell it out. Stad, and they spelled it S T A double D E, which is spelled wrong. Stad should be spelled S T A D E, which is like stadium.
01:26:35
Speaker
in French. Then they did der. They put capital D E and then they called it Stadt der Renn, as in Renn, R-E-N-N-E-S, right? Now, Jed Spence plays for Renn. He doesn't play for Stadt der Renn.
01:26:57
Speaker
And now, Ren is also known as Stad Renee, so it's possible that might have been where the confusion has come from. I don't know. But what they're basically doing is, the England FA are mixing Ren up with Stad de Rem. Stad de Rem. R-E-I-M-S. R-E-I-M-S, yes. Not Ren. And that's the team that Folareen Balagun plays for. He's having a fantastic season. He's been actually meeting with Milan and Inter, who's on loan from Arsenal to
01:27:25
Speaker
to Rem, to Stade Rem. So they've completely mixed up Ren and Rem, but they've also put a Stade in front of Rem. They've misspelled Stade, but they've also put a capital D as well, which you don't do, it's a small d.
01:27:41
Speaker
which is another hallmark of the prem face as well. It doesn't matter, does it? Some frog club. Yeah, exactly, exactly. But that is another hallmark of the prem face, mixing the small Ds with your big Ds. You know, like De Maria, Angel De Maria, or Roberto de Zerebi, or Paolo di Canio, you know, they always get the Ds wrong. They either put a small D when it should be a little D, and they put a little D when it should be small. That happens all the time. You'll see it, it's like,
01:28:10
Speaker
constantly for years and years. And just to hammer home that point, they also did this with Balagland's club. They put a big D rather than a small D for Balagland's. They said that he plays for Stadt Derem with a big D rather than a small D. Well, at least they got it right on that. But yeah, they got the club right there. Every cloud.
01:28:35
Speaker
No, but it's, yeah, no, it's the prim faces. We, I mean, the hashtag, please keep using them and atting us because I die every time. They're so good. They're so, so good. We love the prim face. Especially Sam, Samuel Ventress is the one that sends us. Well, he's in general. I found the better one this week. So, up your game. Yeah, up your game, Sam, up your game. I'm sure we'll come back with the vengeance now.
01:29:03
Speaker
God, that was a long show today. Yeah, it was. Yeah, let's leave it at that. So this week, we'll be back tomorrow with Tuesday with the Q&A. Wednesday, we will have a profile on Matteo Rotegri, the new naturalized Argentinian striker that's playing for Italy with Dan Edwards. And then on Thursday, Nima, you're going to do a post-match reaction. Hold on, Italy, England. On Italy, England, yes. We've got something every day for you this week.
01:29:34
Speaker
Right, okay, let's call it a day. We will see you again on Tuesday. Until then, cha-cha.